All's Fair
by RayWritesThings
Summary: Laurel helps Nyssa celebrate her first New Year's and complete her first Resolution. / No "Eleven-Fifty-Nine" and no Crisis


**Hello and Happy New Year's! It's been a while since I've written something for these two, so the holidays felt like the perfect occasion. This AU takes place where Laurel never died and Crisis? I don't know her. Hopefully you enjoy!**

**-RayWritesThings**

**All's Fair**

"What are these ridiculous glasses?"

Laurel turned back around in the aisle, her basket hanging from an arm, to find Nyssa by the New Year's display. She was holding a pair of floppy, glossy paper frames shaped into the numbers _2020._

"It's for New Year's."

"New Year's?"

Laurel stopped, then walked over to her friend. "Nyssa, you're not telling me you don't know—"

"I realize we are leaving one year behind for another," Nyssa quickly stated. Laurel bit her lip to hide a smile. The way her friend tended to get embarrassed over not knowing things about everyday life outside of the League was endlessly cute. But Laurel didn't know what Nyssa might say if she realized Laurel found her cute.

"Okay, well, it's tradition to sort of celebrate. Ring in the new."

"With silly glasses?"

Laurel nodded. "And hats and noise-makers and watching a big disco ball drop in the middle of Times Square. I haven't done any of that in years." It was strange to think about how many years she had let just pass by for one reason or another.

As she watched Nyssa eyeing the display with curiosity, she made a snap decision. Laurel scooped up two hats, noisemakers and another pair of the glasses, dropping them into her basket.

"Let's do it, okay? Let's celebrate New Year's."

Nyssa's lips quirked in a bemused sort of way, and she dropped the glasses she was holding into the basket as well.

She grabbed some more things while they were out at the store, then returned home to work on putting it all together. Nyssa offered to help, but she told her to sit back and relax since this was her first ever New Year's party. Though it wouldn't be much of a party since their friends would all be out that night on patrol. Laurel sent Thea a text to let her know she and Nyssa would be taking the night off for themselves.

She was mixing a punch together when Thea's reply came back. _Have fun! Get a New Year's kiss for me ;)_

Laurel licked her lips and tucked the phone away. That was one aspect of the tradition she wasn't planning to bring up with Nyssa any time soon.

It was just so unfair. Nyssa had been staying with her for a few months now, ever since she, Thea and Roy had returned from destroying the Lazarus Pits around the world. She had Thea's old room, since Thea and Roy had gotten their own place. And rooming with Nyssa had been nice… yet endlessly frustrating.

Nyssa had certain habits, like lounging about in a towel while she let her hair air dry. Her very long, full head of hair. Her rosemary perfume tended to cling to things like the couch cushions, and she hand-washed and hang-dried everything. Including her underwear. Needless to say, Laurel's imagination had taken her on many a trip to fantasy-land featuring rosemary and the swell of Nyssa's breasts barely hidden under deep purple lingerie that Laurel knew for a fact her friend owned.

And it just wasn't fair because Nyssa was off-limits. Not only was Nyssa her friend, but she was Sara's ex — which Nyssa had only recently come to terms with after the last time Sara visited and told Laurel all about her new girlfriend, Ava. So, despite what Sara had done regarding Laurel's boyfriend what felt a lifetime ago, Laurel knew that making any kind of move would be awkward at best and judged harshly at worst.

Never mind the fact she still hadn't gotten around to telling anyone she might like girls.

It just never felt like the right time. She could hear the voices of her friends in her head even now: _Laurel, you really have to stop trying to be your sister._ It wasn't like she'd made a conscious decision to like girls. It was mostly just little stuff, like that Mari was so strong and skilled or that Felicity was kind of adorable a lot of the time or that Nyssa was stunning and sweet and brilliant but refreshingly naive about so many things and she was _everything._

God, she really was pathetic about this. But when she fell, she always fell deep.

Laurel ordered some Chinese, which was always a careful affair as Nyssa had very lofty standards where American Chinese cuisine was concerned. But Laurel hadn't wanted to put her out by asking her to cook when Nyssa was supposed to be enjoying her first New Year's. They turned the TV on to the channel playing the Times Square party, but kept the volume down in order to be able to hear the delivery man's arrival.

"An interesting selection of songs so far," Nyssa remarked. _Interesting_ was her word for something she wasn't quite sure she liked.

Laurel shrugged. "It's a mix of new stuff with some classics. And some Christmas, because we didn't get enough of it the rest of the month, apparently." She passed her friend a glass of punch, grinning at the sight of the bright and glittery hat perched on Nyssa's perfect hair.

"Thank you, my dearest." Nyssa had taken to saying that a lot recently. The first time, it had been said as 'my dearest friend', but it had since become shortened for convenience's sake. "Mm, I like this." Nyssa smacked her lips and licked them, which so didn't help Laurel from openly staring at them. "How else do people celebrate the end of the year?"

"Well," Laurel said, pausing to take a breath to collect herself. "A lot of people will make resolutions that they plan to uphold in the New Year. Like losing weight or quitting smoking or doing one random act of kindness a day. Stuff like that."

"And do they uphold them?"

"Not usually," Laurel admitted.

"Should we make them anyway?"

"If you want to."

Nyssa nodded. "I do."

"Okay, then." Laurel heard the knock at the door and went to get their food. She returned with takeout containers she set on the coffee table, then went into her kitchen for the paper plates and utensils.

They spent the next several minutes eating silently as the night wore on. Laurel searched her brain for some kind of resolution she could say she was making. She liked where she was with her training and physical fitness right now, so that was out. Her sobriety was still intact. And she figured her vigilantism counted as random acts of good for the people of their city in a way. So that was most of the big categories.

Laurel knew that some people made romance a part of their resolution. But Laurel's wheels were pretty much stuck in the mud when it came to relationships. She was going nowhere fast.

"Oh, it's close to midnight," Laurel realized, setting the remains of her Kung Pao Chicken aside and washing it down with the last of her punch.

"Very good. I have made my resolution," Nyssa announced.

"Great." Laurel bent down to fish the noisemakers out of her bag. "Did you want to tell me what it was?"

"Yes, as it rather involves you."

Laurel lifted her head. "It does?"

"Yes, my dearest." Nyssa set her own glass aside and slid closer on the couch they were sharing. "My resolution is to stop, as you Americans say it, beating around the bush."

"Beating around the bush about what?"

"Us, of course. You hardly believe I would parade myself around as a feast for the eyes for just anyone, would you? Or allow you to glimpse my unmentionables? Not even my short-lived husband has ever seen them, and he would not be alive if he had," Nyssa added with a wicked smirk.

Laurel was too busy gaping at her friend to really process the veiled threat towards Oliver. "I- you were doing all that on _purpose_? But I didn't think—"

"Laurel, ever since I met your family, my life was changed. But you, dearest, have changed _me._ Perhaps more than you will ever know. How could I not hold you in my heart when at last I made room for it?"

Like most of Nyssa's declarations, this one was nearly overwhelming in its intensity. Oddly enough, Laurel felt herself comforted by the wet sheen she could see in Nyssa's eyes. Knowing she was just as affected as Laurel stoked something warm in her chest. "I thought I was wrong or taking advantage of you staying here. I didn't think you could ever see me as someone to _be_ with."

Nyssa's actions hadn't been unintentional at all. She had been trying to let Laurel know that it was okay, that she was interested. That they could have this.

"To be with you as a friend and in this home has already been my greatest privilege. To be with you in every sense is now my greatest desire."

Laurel couldn't help a shiver. It had been so long since someone had even looked at her with something like want. To hear it laid so bare like that was doing things to her, reawakening feelings and sensations she'd thought she couldn't have anymore.

Nyssa slid even closer, so that their knees brushed and she laid one hand on Laurel's thigh. The touch seemed to burn through the thin cotton of the pajama bottoms she had on. "I have done some reading on this holiday while you were preparing our celebration. I understand that revelers exchange a kiss at midnight."

Laurel nodded, not really trusting her voice.

"I would very much like to participate in that tradition."

This required perhaps more than a nod, so Laurel just barely managed an, "Okay."

Her friend smiled, a genuine one that was rare and thus all the more beautiful, before she leaned in. Laurel's hand rose to cup Nyssa's jaw, then stroke her cheek as their lips met in a tentative exploration.

Nyssa's lips were softer than she could have expected, and warm against her own. Laurel couldn't resist capturing the bottom one between her teeth for a moment, earning a surprised but happy hum.

They parted to breathe, foreheads leaned together, and Laurel smiled as a thought came to her. "Nyssa?"

"Yes, dearest?"

Laurel reached down and snagged one of the noise makers, blowing into it for a short, shrill burst.

Nyssa sat back, blinking in shock. "What on Earth—"

"Happy New Year."

Nyssa let out a breath and shook her head. "Your country is ridiculous."

Laurel laughed as Nyssa snagged the noisemaker and tossed it aside, then happily resumed their previous activity. The television flashed with fireworks as the crowds in New York City cheered. Laurel closed her eyes to all of that, too happy to surrender her lips and her mouth and her body to Nyssa's touch. Her friend, her trainer and now so much more.

Maybe life was fair, sometimes.


End file.
